Table 4.

Results of the meta-regression and subgroup analysis for differential diagnosis between malignant and benign parotid lesions

Subgroup	Number of studies	Pooled sensitivity (95% CI)	Pooled specificity (95% CI)	Pooled DOR (95% CI)	AUC	p value
Mechanism						0.119
SWE	6	0.61 (0.52–0.70)	0.62 (0.57–0.66)	6.39 (1.82–22.35)	0.67
SE	3	0.81 (0.64–0.93)	0.76 (0.67–0.83)	11.67 (1.56–87.41)	0.64
SWE technique						0.473
ARFI	4	0.63 (0.52–0.73)	0.51 (0.45–0.57)	4.91 (0.96–25.05)	0.65
SSI	2	0.58 (0.41–0.74)	0.86 (0.79–0.92)	9.50 (3.99–22.63)	NA
Assessment method						0.035*
Qualitative	5	0.59 (0.48–0.69)	0.52 (0.46–0.58)	3.38 (1.08–10.57)	0.63
Qualitative or semiquantitative	4	0.73 (0.61–0.83)	0.83 (0.77–0.88)	18.64 (4.51–77.07)	0.88
QUADAS score						0.462
13.5	7	0.66 (0.58–0.74)	0.59 (0.54–0.63)	5.41 (1.81–16.13)	0.74
≤ 13	3	0.69 (0.50–0.84)	0.91 (0.83–0.96)	26.56 (6.91–102.11)	0.90

SE strain elastography, SWE shear wave elastography, SSI supersonic shear imaging, ARFI acoustic radiation force impulse imaging, NA not available

*Meta-regression, p < 0.05